


The Wolf Of Postwick

by Axecilies



Category: Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: (mostly to wooloo im so sorry), Fantasy AU, Minor Injuries, Minor Violence, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-07-24
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:47:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25495588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Axecilies/pseuds/Axecilies
Summary: For the past year, there's been werewolf attacks on Postwick. Being such a well known knight, Leon's not had the time to go back and help Hop figure out who it is. But now, it's getting too far out of hand. He has to put a stop to it.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 10





	The Wolf Of Postwick

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Samsonet](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Samsonet/gifts).



> This was commissioned work, and I had a blast writing it! Thank you for commissioning me!

“Lee, there’s been more trouble in Postwick since you’ve left.” It’s odd for Hop to come all the way out to Hammerlocke, especially on his own. The last few letters they'd exchanged were detailing issues with the local wildlife-- since Postwick relies so much on the farming community, hearing the way the Wooloo are being hunted, and even  _ people _ getting terrorised by something out there-- and clearly, Hop doesn't think he can handle it all on his own. "I've been doing what I can, y'know, as your little brother and all that, but I just don't get it. It's like it doesn't make sense-- making me feel like a right barmy plonker." 

"Hm." Leon's had his theories-- he'd be a lot more comfortable with them if Sonia had the time to get back to him, but he knows she's rather busy right now, especially with actually  _ training _ Hop. "And Sonia doesn't know either?" 

"She hasn't been much focused on it… what with being the Region's finest mind, and all. That and training me." Despite the seriousness of the conversation, Hop grins brightly for a moment-- before it falls rather suddenly. "But I don't know if I can figure this all out myself, Lee. It's a lot for one person to handle--" 

God, Hop just knows the right ways to get into his armour and convince him to abandon his post. "I'll have a chat with Raihan about it; should everything go well, I'll be returning to Postwick with you."

At Leon's statement, Hop grins again. "Thanks, Lee! You're the  _ best! _ " 

"You're going to have to enjoy Hammerlocke while I talk with Raihan, I'm afraid. But, as I said, I'm hopeful he'll be willing to let me travel. I'm sure he'd understand the urgency of the situation."

"I'll meet you at the main gate at midday, yeah?" 

"Sounds good. I'll see you then."

Leaving Hop behind, Leon begins walking towards Hammerlocke Vault-- it's a little difficult, considering his ability to get lost even in the most linear of towns-- and though he knows Hammerlocke well, it takes him a solid while to actually figure out how to get there. As much as he hates his own sense of direction, he's not too panicked-- he and Hop had agreed to meet in a few hours, so he has time to get lost. 

"Leon? You're a welcome change of pace." Raihan's voice is sudden, just next to him. "What's brought you here?" 

"I-- I need to go back to Postwick. Hop's been warning me of a… beast, that's been terrorising people, and their flocks." Leon's picking his words carefully. He doesn't know what it might be-- it'll take a lot of thought to figure out what it is, and where its lair is. "He's been keeping me informed about it for a few months now. It would be… best, I think, if I went to see what was happening."

There's a hum from Raihan as he considers what Leon has said. He's a great knight, surely he can handle whatever it might be down there, and come back without much issue? 

"I see no problem with that. Just report back as soon as you can; Hammerlocke certainly feels safer with your strength by its side." Raihan offers Leon a friendly smile, which he matches, despite his worries about his hometown. 

"Thank you, Raihan. I'll make sure to solve it, and I'll be back, soon as!" 

"I'm sure you will." There's a lightness to his voice, and he offers Leon a pat on his back. "I believe in you, and if you need any backup, just ask."

Leon waves to Raihan as he leaves, walking backwards as he goes. Hopefully he won't get  _ too _ lost trying to find his way back to Hop, but it's hard for him to know. After all, Hammerlocke's so  _ big,  _ and he gets lost in  _ small _ towns like Turffield. He only considers himself lucky to have run into Raihan out in the open, since otherwise, he has no idea how long it would have taken him to find Hammerlocke Vault--  _ and _ he might not have even been there. 

It takes him a good hour to actually figure out where he’s even going. Being unable to find his way around is the main reason he doesn’t like  _ leaving _ cities, but he knows that when travelling with Hop, they won’t get lost--  _ probably. _ He at least trusts his little brother to know where they’re going.

When he finally reaches the main gate, Hop’s already waiting for him.

“All good to go?” Hop shouts out to him, waving him over.

“How’d you get back here so quick, Hop? I thought you were gonna look around Hammerlocke--”

“I did! I just didn’t get  _ lost.  _ No offense to you, Lee, but sometimes I wonder if we need to get you a Pokemon that’s good with directions.” Hop still offers him a smile. “We should get going-- it’s a long journey back to Postwick, and I don’t want to leave it too defenseless.”

Leon nods. “We might’ve missed some major clues while we were out here. I  _ am _ sorry about how long it’s taken for me to actually be able to come back--”

“Don’t apologise, Lee! You’re the unbeatable knight! You’re busy, and that’s fine!” There’s a sincerity to Hop’s voice. “Leon… I’m always looking up to you-- and so’s the rest of the Region. You’re allowed to be busy.”

The whole Region looking up to him… it really takes a toll on him, sometimes. It’s a lot to have to be the face of knighthood-- and that’s partly why he  _ has _ to solve the issue in Postwick. If he doesn’t… then what would people think of him?

He’d rather not consider it.

\--

When the two arrive back in Postwick, Leon can already see the chaos that's clearly been gripping the small village. Wooloo are on edge, some sections of fencing have entirely been ripped apart, and even some  _ houses _ show signs of being broken into. It's a  _ mess _ , and Leon doesn't really know where he's meant to start. Talk to the people? Look at the damage closer? Find Sonia and ask her what she thinks? It's a whole lot of ways to start-- and he can't pick which one would be best. 

"It's… not looking good, is it Lee?" Hop's question is almost more like a statement, watching his brother's face fall at the destruction. "I… don't much know what we're meant to do."

"Hm…" Hadn't Hop mentioned talking to people already? Or had he  _ seen it _ himself? "Hop, how did people describe what they saw."

There's a moment's pause from Hop as he recalls what he'd been told by countless people. "Was a great, hulking brute of a creature. It hunched over, snarling and growling, and it was salivating when it broke into the Wooloo fields." He pauses again, trying to remember more. "It's fur was a weird colour, and it seemed to like sticking to the shadows to prevent the moonlight from showing too much of it-- had massive claws and teeth, too! And it seems to appear every full moon. Snatches up a couple Wooloo and disappears."

"Disappears  _ where?  _ Into the Weald?" Leon muses aloud. If they can find where it's coming from, it might make it easier. 

"No clue, mate. Anyone who saw it ran for their lives, never watched where it went."

"And the break-ins on the houses, how did they happen?" Leon approaches one of the houses in question-- a few doors down from their own home, which worries him. The markings across the door, the stonework beside it-- deep gashes of clawmarks, teeth marks, a worryingly small patch of blood-- there must be something to say about it. 

"The… the beast saw 'em watching it. Said it looked straight across at him, dropped the Wooloo it had grabbed and just… bolted at him. Said he'd never seen anything so fast in his life-- was terrifying, to say the least. He slammed the door and it just… rammed into it. Clawed at it, tried to sink its teeth into it… almost ripped it clean off its hinges, it did."

Leon pauses, now. Sonia hasn't said  _ anything _ about this, despite it happening only a village away? When they're done looking for clues here, he's already planning to go visit her-- if he gets a good hunch, she might be able to confirm or deny it. 

"Let's look around. We might be able to find something left behind by the beast."

Hop nods. "I can look around the Weald if you wanna check out the Wooloo fields?" 

"Sounds best to me."

As Hop dashes off towards the Weald, Leon takes a very calm approach to the first field that he can see has signs of the beast. The dirt path has similar gashes to the house, clawmarks in soft dirt, an obvious trail of bounding leaps, and Leon can already figure out exactly how it got  _ into _ the field. Straight over the gate. There's not going to be any signs here. 

The next field he heads to, however, has a much bigger sign of struggle. The gate of this one has been shattered in the beast's haste. While normally the Wooloo would have been happy to escape, now, they huddle far from the gate, considering themselves safest in the very centre of the field. Shards of the gate are scattered on the inside of the field-- broken inwards, not outwards-- and as he looks around, Leon notices something very small, left behind on a piece of the gate that still remains. 

There, on a sharp wooden stump, is a bit of blood, and a tuft of  _ very _ weirdly coloured fur. 

Removing his gauntlets, Leon reaches out and touches the fur, rolling it between his fingers as he pulls it away from the gate. It's coarse-- far too coarse to be wool-- and there's a distinct  _ feel _ to it that's unlike anything Leon's touched before. 

They're dealing with something big, here. Leon doesn't much know what to do. 

He takes the fur and carefully tucks it into a safe spot-- while armour isn't made to hold onto much, he places it in a small pocket he has attached to his weapon belt, hoping at least that if he finds anything else, he recalls what he had found before. 

The next field he heads into must be the one that the beast had dropped the Wooloo in favour of chasing the man to his house-- he can see the Wooloo in question, shuddering and scratched up badly-- and he approaches slowly, holding his hands out towards the bleating sheep. 

"Hey now, I just wanna check you over, okay?" He speaks softly to it, and it bleats gently. "There's a good boy."

The Wooloo's skin is scarring-- it must have been a somewhat  _ recent _ attack, considering how fresh the scabs on it look-- and in amongst the wool, is another small tuft of fur. He picks it out gently, places it with the rest of the fur he's found, and gives the Wooloo a couple pats for being so brave. "Thank you. I'll put a stop to this for you little guys."

_ And for the safety of the rest of Postwick.  _ He thinks to himself, grimly. 

He doesn't realize just how long it's been, until Hop is running back over, panting at his overexertion. "Lee! Found anything good?" 

"Fur. Anything you've spotted?" 

"Fur! That's great! And, uh-- no. I don't think it's coming from the Weald at all-- either it's someone here  _ in _ Postwick, or…" 

"Wedgehurst. I had a small suspicion it might be Wedgehurst." Leon seems to hum for a moment. "Let's head in that direction. If we see any more proof, then we'll know where to start looking."

Leon immediately starts walking, and Hop has to start him off in the right direction. He's still no good at directions, even when it's a very important situation. 

"Do you think the beast travels across the main roads?" Hop asks gently, scouring the floor for any footprints. 

"I don't know. I'm assuming so, considering that it seems to like using the gates, even though it's capable of leaping clean over them." Something about it seems… odd. Like it's still trying to adhere to rules when it should be almost mindless. "Even if we don't find any sign of it on the way, I still have that fur I can show Sonia. She'll be able to figure it out, I'm sure."

Hop nods again, and the two fall silent as they walk, looking at the surrounding area carefully. Since the area's so well travelled, there doesn't appear to be any marks on the actual road-- but some of the grasses at the side seem flattened oddly, and the ground beneath them seems cleaved apart strangely. 

It's only further proving, in Leon's mind, that whatever the beast is, it's coming from  _ Wedgehurst.  _

The facts that he's got so far is… that it's not actively hunting humans, it uses the main roads, it goes through the gates, even though it can leap  _ over _ them, and it has  _ very _ oddly coloured fur. And, it's  _ far _ too large to be an overgrown Boltund-- it's something far more bestial, the size he can't quite gauge, but it's  _ humanoid.  _ The way Hop had said people described it… it  _ must _ be humanoid, if it's hulking and hunched over. 

It  _ must _ be a werewolf. 

Wedgehurst seems as normal as ever. There's no sign of any activity here, relating to the beast, which makes Leon wonder for a moment. Why does it target Postwick? For the Wooloo? They  _ must _ be easier to hunt, since they're kept in fields… but  _ still…  _

He's far too caught up in his own mind to realize Hop is guiding him towards the lab, still desperately hoping they can solve all of this, and let Postwick return to the sleepy haven it's always been. 

When Leon's focus returns, Hop is pushing the lab door open, leading him inside. "Sonia? You around?" Hop calls out, and there's the sound of something shifting, before Sonia's head pops around a bookcase. 

"Hop, you're back! And-- Leon, too!" She steps around the bookcase, pushing the books in her hands onto a desk and approaching Leon for a hug. 

He can't help but notice how unkempt her hair is-- it's uncharacteristic, as if she's been working herself too hard. Nonetheless, she pulls him into a hug, and the two just stand there, appreciating the fact that they can both spend time together, for now. 

When Leon finally pulls back, Sonia's smiling at him. "So, what's brought you down here?" 

"The beast problem in Postwick. I've been looking into it." Leon says, with a great deal more seriousness than he anticipates. 

"Mmn." Sonia doesn't sound all that excited. "I'm a little… peeved that it's gotten away from me for so long. I've been meaning to look into it and all, but there's just so much going on--" She stops herself mid-sentence. "Hop, could you look in the bookshelves for a History of Domestication?" 

"Sure thing!" Hop happily moves from beside Leon to the bookshelves, turning his focus away from the two of them, but still trying to listen in. 

"You don't have to worry about the beast, I've got it under control."

"You do?" When Sonia turns away to check something, Leon pulls the fur from his pocket, holding it up to the light. 

Comparing it… to Sonia's. When he thinks he's compared enough, he tucks the fur back into his pocket. Best if she doesn’t know about it, yet.

"There's a full moon soon, right?" 

"Uh, tonight, if I recall." Sonia looks up at him again. "Are you planning to--" 

"No. I don't want to  _ kill _ the beast. Not unless it's necessary. I just want your input-- lycanthropy. Do you think it can be cured at all?" 

There seems to be a single moment of panic on Sonia's face, before it's quickly replaced with a questioning look. "I don't know. It'd depend on  _ how _ lycanthropy began, I suppose. If it's  _ infectious,  _ like folklore says, then perhaps…" There's something wistful about Sonia's tone. Something that doesn't go missed by Leon. "It's not something I'd thought about much."

“I know you’re busy at the moment, but… if you could look into it in  _ any _ amount, that’d be great.”

There’s a pause from Sonia, and the look she gives to Leon is odd-- as if confused about something he hasn’t quite said. After a few moments of watching him, as if waiting for him to say something else-- something that’ll alleviate the feeling she’s getting, that’s been creeping up on her since the moment he stepped into the lab-- she nods. “I’ll see what I can do, but I can’t guarantee anything.”

“You don’t need to guarantee anything-- just any information on lycanthropy would be great. Folklore or not, I think it’s what we’re dealing with here--” Leon stops himself halfway. “Wait. Why did you think I wanted to kill the werewolf?”

“W-well, it just-- it seemed like the natural progression of the conversation. You  _ are _ a knight, and you  _ are _ skilled at…  _ that. _ ” It seems, for a moment, as if Sonia’s trying to avoid actually  _ saying _ it. “I mean-- it wouldn’t make sense, though. You don’t have a silver sword, and folklore states you need a silver weapon to kill a werewolf--”

“I heard that anything silver does the trick!” Hop’s voice comes from somewhere in the mass of bookshelves. “I’m sure if Lee had just a piece of silver that was sharp enough, he could kill it.”

“I don’t  _ intend _ to kill it, is the thing. I’m looking more to help it.”

“You want to… help the beast that’s been terrorizing Postwick for the last year?” Hop now reappears from behind the bookshelves, handing Sonia the book she had asked for. “I thought this was all about--”

“Hop, if it  _ is _ a werewolf, then there’s far more to it than what we can expect. Under that beastial form is a  _ someone.  _ Someone who’s likely confused, or scared about their situation. Someone who  _ doesn’t deserve to die _ for something they can’t control.”

There’s a pause. “I always thought maybe they could control  _ some _ aspects of being a werewolf and all-- like, maybe some of their actions--” Hop seems to try and reason to himself. “Though, I… saying that out loud, I see where you’re getting at.”

“From what I know, there’s no real sense of control. The person who they are in the daylight is just…  _ gone _ , temporarily replaced by this unending hunger, this sense of… I suppose, feral freedom? That capability to just… do, with very little repercussion.”

Sonia is quietly leafing through the book Hop had retrieved, trying not to focus too hard on the conversation at hand. It’s always easier to synthesise information in a quieter environment--

“You know a lot about werewolves…” Hop raises a hand to his chin as he looks at Leon. “I mean-- I’m not surprised, but still…”

“I’m really just… guessing. I’ve not  _ actually _ encountered one before, and I was never trained against them, it’s just… you’ve seen how wild Boltund get. It must just be like a larger version of that.”

When Leon turns to Sonia, expecting her to back him up, he gets nothing. She’s far too focused on the book in her hands-- it’s odd, they’d been such close friends before, and the conversation  _ did _ involve her, so why wasn’t she focused on it? With each moment, the silence drags on, and Sonia fails to notice. She’s quietly muttering to herself as she reads through pages, flicking back and forth, making notes--

\--finally, she looks up. “Hm? Sorry, were you two waiting for me?”

There’s a beat, a pause, and Leon shakes his head. “No, no! Have you found anything interesting?” He knows it’s best not to try pull Sonia out of her work unless she’s ready to speak about it.

“A little. Lycanthropy’s been around since  _ before _ we tamed Pokemon. Mythologies say that they were cursed by either the protectors of the Weald, or in Kalos’ case, Yveltal, the God of Death. They had a whole issue in a small town being overrun by werewolves-- hopefully not what we’re going to get here.” Sonia flicks across to another page. “Though, some places in Kalos believe that, if you sleep outside on a summer night, with the full moon shining on you, on a Wednesday, or a Friday.”

She pauses for a moment. “What a  _ mouthful. _ ”

Hop seems to nod along with her, while Leon just quietly strokes his beard in thought.

“I don’t know if either of  _ you _ two know about anyone doing  _ any _ of that, because I certainly don’t.” She’s not particularly looking for an answer, either. “There’s nothing else in  _ this _ book in particular, but I do recall something about how sorcerers are able to…  _ spread _ lycanthropy, for lack of a better word. I wonder if someone in town’s gotten on the wrong side of some great sorcerer?”

“Do werewolves spread lycanthropy themselves?” Hop asks earnestly.

“Not from what I know. Since there’s so many ways people think it can develop, I’m not really sure.” Sonia heads back towards the bookshelves. “I  _ know _ there’s a book in here on lycanthropes. You two give me a hand, will you? We’re looking out for, I think it was called… The Werewolf Delusion.”

Once again, Hop weaves his way into the bookshelves, while Leon seems a little more hesitant to begin. He’s not hesitating because of any particular reason-- he wants to know how to cure lycanthropy, for whoever it is that’s suffering from it--  _ though he has a hunch, a strong one, that he doesn’t think can be disproven at this point-- _ and soon enough, he joins the two of them between the bookshelves, reading across each of the book spines to find the one that Sonia had mentioned.

On some levels, he considers it odd that Sonia possesses a book on werewolves, but hasn’t looked into it, despite the attacks. He supposes that there must’ve been a large amount of speculation on what the creature had been-- after all, if it  _ had _ been one of the protectors of the Weald, there’d be no sense in attempting to stop it, considering what it had already done for Galar. The livelihoods of people were important, but ensuring a safe Region, protected by the Weald’s beasts, is more important still. With all that speculation, and the large amount of monsters it could have possibly been, looking into something it’s  _ not _ could have proven fatal, perhaps.

He can hear Hop quietly muttering the name of the book to himself, to keep himself on track for what he’s supposed to be finding. It’s not putting him off at all, but he’s looking across the books slower now. Aren’t they in alphabetical order? Did somebody shuffle them about, or were they never ordered like that?

“Found it!” There’s a grin on Sonia’s face as she pulls the book from the shelf-- it was hidden higher up than Leon had expected it to be, and as such, he’d swept right past it. As if sensing his disappointment at missing it, Sonia smiles at him. “Don’t worry, Leon! We found it anyway, and we haven’t lost much time, have we?”

The two of them seem to glance out the window in synchronicity. The sun’s getting close to setting… they don’t have much more time to lose.

Hop rejoins the two as well, excited to hear what might be the cause of the beast’s appearance, and how they might be able to recognise  _ who _ the beast is. He’s actively trying to read the book as Sonia flicks through page after page, before she seems to settle on one.

“Apparently there’s a few ways to recognise a werewolf-- presence of a unibrow, a swinging stride, and curved fingernails… though some of those sound synonymous with how everyone thinks  _ witches _ look, and we  _ all _ know that  _ anyone _ could be a witch.” She runs her finger across the page, before stopping again. “A Sinnohan superstition says that a werewolf, in human form, has bristles under their tongues.”

Immediately, Hop turns to Leon, opens his mouth and pulls his tongue up. “Lookh! I don’th have brithles, right?”

“Hop, that’s not necessary--” Leon begins, but Hop’s already trying to look in his mouth. “Hop, you  _ know _ it’s not me!”

There’s a few seconds of pause from Sonia as this goes on, before she turns to Leon as well. “If you’d like confirmation that it’s not me--  _ if _ , of course, this superstition is  _ true-- _ ” Sonia lifts her tongue.

No bristles. None that he can see.

“You’re clean.” Leon says it in a rather joking tone, and Sonia seems to laugh, albeit a little more strained than she anticipates. “At least that cuts down three candidates, huh?”

“Yeah! But-- are we really gonna go around all of Wedgehurst checking under people’s tongues?” 

“Of course not, Hop. It’d be a fool’s errand to try.” Leon turns to Sonia, and she nods. 

“After all, we don’t conclusively know if the bristles under the tongue thing is really a way to see if someone’s a werewolf, now do we?” She focuses back on the book again, turning pages quickly.

“Exactly. It’s better for us to look into… how we might be able to  _ cure  _ lycanthropy, if you can find something like that in there, Sonia?”

“Just give me a few moments of silence, I’ll find what we’re looking for.”

At Sonia’s request, both Hop and Leon fall silent, waiting with bated breath to see what she might find. Leon’s hopeful, of course, there’s an easy way to cure lycanthropy-- though, when it comes to sorcery, he knows there’s never really an  _ easy _ way out-- but he’s prepared to do what he can, even if that requires suffering on his own part. The fact that the beast had been roaming for so long, likely unaware of any cure, or who might’ve cursed them with lycanthropy, makes him worried-- and a little unhappy. He can’t imagine what it’d be like to feel so dreadfully…  _ alone _ in the world, especially knowing that  _ you _ are what people want dead.

As if to combat his slowly darkening thoughts, Sonia speaks again. “Here we go! There’s quite a few listed here, though a lot of them I…  _ wouldn’t _ recommend, especially if you don’t want to kill them.”

Leon seems to perk up at the idea of there being  _ multiple _ cures-- if one doesn’t work, he can move onto another, right? And as long as most of them are nonviolent-- or at least, wouldn’t harm the sufferer  _ too _ much-- it should be fine!

“Ancient civilizations were a big fan of… exhausting it out of them, apparently. That was born around the idea of them being weakened after hunting livestock. Next solutions come from… ah. Medieval Galar. This is going to be a violent one, you can already tell that.” Sonia rolls her eyes as she continues. “Three cures are suggested-- medicinal cures, surgical cures, and--  _ exorcism? _ Arceus, glad we don’t believe so much in  _ that _ anymore.”

“What do you mean  _ medicinal _ cures?” Hop tilts his head. “Are we talking, like… plant-wise? Oh--! Is that where wolfsbane gets its name from?”

“Exactly right, Hop! Wolfsbane is suggested as a medicinal cure for lycanthropy-- and of course, has proven fatal one hundred percent of the time. Congratulations, medieval Galar, you’ve… sure cured something! Unfortunately, the cure happened to be  _ death. _ Guess that one’s not gonna be on your list, Leon?”

“Absolutely not. And-- I don’t think I’m exactly  _ ordained, _ so I can’t perform an exorcism, and I don’t trust myself to… surgically remove it, whatever that entails.” He huffs out a breath, and Sonia looks back to the book.

“Well, there are a  _ few _ others listed here. You’re not gonna like most of them.”

“Oh  _ joy. _ ” Leon sighs. “This gets harder by the minute.”

“You didn’t  _ expect _ it to be easy, did you? You might be unbeatable as a knight, but this is gonna take a lot more thought than you were anticipating.” Sonia seems to giggle a little, before she points at where she’s reading from again. “Some other cures from places outside Johto suggest, uh… striking the beast on the forehead-- or scalp-- with a knife, and one includes what I’d  _ assume _ is meant to mimic crucifixion with the… nails through the werewolf’s hands. Yikes.”

Before either Hop  _ or _ Leon can say anything, she’s speaking again. “Luckily, there’s a few that  _ might _ work which don’t require any harm to come to the werewolf. There’s a belief that if you scold the werewolf, it’ll turn back into a human-- weird, if I do say so myself-- or if…” Sonia trails off. “Huh.”

“What’s up?”

“Apparently, if you say the werewolf’s Arcurian name three times, it should be cured. I don’t know if that’s reliant on the werewolf being baptised into Arcurianism, but if it doesn’t, we might be on to a winner here.”

Leon seems to hum in agreement.

“But for that, we’d need to know  _ who _ the werewolf is!” Hop turns to Leon. “Do you know who it is?”

There’s a shake of Leon’s head, and a grim look on his face. “I’m not sure. There’s far too many people in Wedgehurst for me to make a guess. Are there any other cures that you can see in the book, Sonia?”

“Just one. Another medieval Galarian one says that converting the werewolf to Arcurianism will cure it.”

“Damn.” Leon frowns, now. He still has his hunch, and it’s what he’s going to act upon, but it’s better if neither Hop  _ nor _ Sonia know exactly what that’s all about. “And the sun’s setting, too. We don’t have much time to mull this over anymore.”

“Unfortunately not.” Sonia glances out the window, then back at Leon. “Do you have a plan, Leon?”

“I do. I’m going to go out into the Wooloo fields, and I’m going to wait for the werewolf. It’s going to turn up-- I trust that. It’ll be coming for the livestock.” His hand lands on his chin, and he strokes it thoughtfully. “No werewolf’s gonna turn down easy prey. I’ll wait for it, and when I get the chance, I’ll do whatever I can to try and pinpoint  _ who _ it is, or cure it, if I can.”

“You’re putting yourself in harms way to--?!” Hop seems taken aback. “But-- Leon! What if it kills you?!”

“Hop… I don’t  _ want _ to kill the werewolf, but if I have to, I will.”

Sonia seems to shudder at that; the motion itself doesn’t go missed by Leon, though in the moment, he can’t decide whether it’s the final nail in the coffin for his hunch. Again, he says nothing about it--  _ best not to, _ he decides.  _ If I give away the game now, then I might not get another chance. _

“Anyway. The sun’s setting, and we should be heading back to Postwick.”

“Sure thing. I’ll be around if you find something out!” Sonia smiles to Leon and Hop again, and Leon gently leads Hop out of the lab.

The two are almost silent as they walk back to Postwick, too. There’s not much to talk about-- Leon’s going to put himself in harms way to find out who the werewolf is, and Hop’s going to worry about him the whole time.

“I want to go with you.” Hop says, suddenly. “I want to help you find out who the werewolf is.”

Leon jolts suddenly, looking down at Hop incredulously. “I-- I can’t let you do that, Hop. I wouldn’t forgive myself if you got hurt--”

“But I want to help! Can’t I just  _ watch _ , please?” There Hop goes, trying to use his cute Yamper eyes on him-- but it’s not going to work. Especially when it’s something as serious as this.

“There are three reasons for this, Hop. First, you being outside would put  _ you _ in danger. Second, if it targets you, and not me, then my plan is going to be  _ much _ harder to pull off, and finally, and probably  _ most importantly, _ you’re my little brother. I couldn’t let you get hurt, and I  _ won’t  _ let you get hurt. Not only would mum never forgive me, but  _ I’d _ never forgive myself, either.” Once again, Leon shakes his head. “You need to go home, and stay inside. I promise you, I’ll be safe.”

There seems to be some hesitation from Hop, despite Leon’s insistence.

“Hopscotch, I promise, I’ll be fine. I’m unbeatable! I’ll have my armour on, the werewolf won’t be able to hurt me. Just… please stay inside.”

At Leon calling him a nickname, Hop seems to give in. He drops his head, scuffing his feet on the path as he walks. “Alright, I will, but… you better be okay.” Suddenly, he puffs up, pouting at him. “If you’re not, I’m not gonna be happy!”

Leon can’t help but laugh a little at that. “I wouldn’t expect you to be. Now go on, I’ve gotta get myself in position ready for the werewolf.”

At that, Hop starts running towards home, waving to Leon as he goes. He’s hopeful, at least, that Hop will be safe at home while he handles the werewolf-- there’s no reason it should target him, unless he  _ gives _ it a reason. And, being inside… that reason shouldn’t come up.

After a few minutes of just wandering around between the Wooloo fields, Leon picks where he’s going to hide. A final glance up at the sky, and he tucks himself in between some of the low-hanging trees, the only sign of him being the trampled grass, and the gentle glint of his armour in the moonlight.

He’s prepared to wait as long as it takes for the werewolf to turn up; he’d picked this field in particular since it was the last one it attacked. The werewolf should know that there’s a weak Wooloo amongst the flock-- as on edge as they must be, that one will be the weak link, and an easy target. Now that he’s waiting, however, he realizes exactly how careful he needs to be.

Werewolves have sharp teeth, crushing jaws, claws capable of leaving gashes like he’d seen in the woodwork, and the stonework of houses-- if he doesn’t time his moves right, he could easily find one of his arms clamped in those jaws. No matter who the werewolf is, in a moment like that, Leon doesn’t think they’d be able to consider what they were doing, before it could rip his arm off. In that moment, as he sees in his own head what might happen to him, he thinks about Hop. If he got harmed here, then surely, Hop would be the first to know, and try to react. If he gets harmed, Hop will come out to help him, and then,  _ he’ll _ be the target. That’s the last thing Leon wants-- he’s trying to prevent anyone else from getting hurt by it, but if Hop in  _ particular _ got hurt, Leon doesn’t know what he’d do. He might just lose all thoughts of saving whoever the werewolf is, and kill it, as little as he wants to.

A spur of the moment action might make the difference of his little brother being alive. What could matter more than that--  _ who _ could matter more than that?

Actually… that’s not a question he wants to consider the answer to.

At the sound of laboured breath, Leon’s thoughts judder to a halt. The world around him seems to still down into silence, aside from that heavy breathing, the sound of footsteps pulling up clumps of grass, those long, deep  _ sniffs _ \--

\--it must be here. The werewolf is  _ right _ near him. He daren’t move, now. If he does, he’ll blow his cover before he’s meant to.

Leon’s focus is on the gate. He can see it clearly from where he’s hidden-- will the werewolf do what he expects, either by smashing through the gate, or by  _ opening it, _ perhaps? Or will it leap clean over, as it’s proven it can do? There’s not much time between him wondering and it happening-- the creature seems to take a running leap at it, clearing the gate easily, and stopping where it lands, raising its head to the sky and sniffing again.

Wait. Is he downwind from it? The wolf seems to pause, looking in his general direction, but it doesn’t look long enough, instead falling to all fours and starting to prowl up the field, heading for the middle. He can see it, teeth bared, claws digging deep into the soft ground underneath, eyeing up the Wooloo, which are bleating worriedly-- loudly.

As he watches it, Sonia’s voice is gentle in his head;  _ if you scold the werewolf, it’ll turn back into a human-- weird, if I do say so myself--  _ and finally, Leon makes his move.

“Hey! Don’t you  _ dare _ go for those Wooloo! You’re not allowed to do that, and you should-- uh-- feel bad about it!” Leon steps out of the bushes, pointing at the werewolf in question. The werewolf pauses, tilts its head as it looks at him, before snarling. After a few slow, measured steps, it practically starts  _ galloping _ towards him.

_ That was a bad idea. That was a  _ **_very_ ** _ bad idea--! _

It leaps towards him, and Leon naturally draws his sword, holding it across his chest as if it’s going to help him at all. The wolf slams one paw into his shoulder, and at the sudden movement, he drops his sword, finding himself pinned down by the beast.

In this position though, and with the moon so high in the sky, he can get a good look at it-- that oddly  _ ginger-peach _ fur, long, unkempt, the remains of some ripped up green garment on its chest, and those  _ striking eyes, _ the same colour as whatever it had been wearing-- it leans closer to him, almost drooling as it sniffs him, as if trying to figure out if whatever’s  _ inside _ the armour is alive. 

There’s a beat, as the beast tries to clamp its jaws over his helmet to rip it off him-- Leon can feel its warm breath against his face, and it  _ doesn’t _ smell good-- he finds himself speaking.

“S-Sonia?”

The wolf pauses. There’s a growl rising in its throat, and it pulls away from Leon’s helmet-- from Leon, actually, instead circling around him, snarling at him.

_ Apparently, if you say the werewolf’s Arcurian name three times, it should be cured.  _ Again, Leon recalls what Sonia had said. Its Arcurian name… so its full name.

“Sonia Magnolia?” The questioning tone to Leon’s voice makes the wolf tilt its head, its eyes seemingly focusing on him with a lot less malice than before. Within moments, however, that rage is back.

_ Oh Arceus. _ Leon swallows loudly. “It’s… you.”

The werewolf doesn’t like that. It seems to yelp at him-- like it’s pained-- before it howls  _ loudly. _ Loud enough to make Leon want to cover his ears, and shut his eyes. But, he doesn’t, instead watching as the wolf looks from left to right, before darting back over the fence, and down the road to Wedgehurst.

_ Oh no. Oh no. I only managed to say it once--! _

Still clad in full armour, Leon finds himself running after it, climbing over the gate and following its footsteps almost exactly down the road. He’s not as fast as it, and he doesn’t  _ expect _ to catch it on the road-- but if it  _ is _ Sonia, which he’s  _ certain  _ it is, now, then she’ll have gone back to the lab. If she’s in there, then he can do his best to cure her.

When he arrives in Wedgehurst, he’s panting, his legs almost automatically carrying him towards the lab. There’s sign of it passing through-- both in and  _ out _ of the lab-- and he passes through the already open doorway, looking around for any sign of where she had gone.

Though, if they’re in an enclosed space like this…

“Sonia Magnolia. That’s you, isn’t it?”

There’s a growl from one of the far corners-- by the greenhouse. Leon starts walking towards it, and the growls seem to turn into whimpers. The werewolf’s pressed back against the greenhouse, looking at Leon with worried eyes--  _ scared _ eyes, a stark difference from how striking they had been before-- and  _ shuddering. _ It looks as if it had fallen backwards into the position, all legs off the ground, so it has no way to run away. Like it doesn’t want to run away at all.

Leon crouches in front of it, reaching his hand out towards the werewolf. It’s tentative, and his gauntlet-clad hand touches gently to the werewolf’s cheek, watching as it closes its eyes, some sense of fear still obvious in its expression.

“Sonia Magnolia... Arceus,  _ Arceus, _ Sonia, what did you  _ do…? _ ”

“Didn’t-- do… anything…” Her voice is hoarse, the wolf-like features starting to recede-- if only somewhat. Her teeth look too large for her mouth, nails far too long. “It’s-- it’s…”

She’s looking at her own hands-- halfway between paws, and she hates it. She hates it…

Leon quickly retrieves her jacket from across her chair, covering her with it.

“I… I always wanted to be a knight like you, y’know… when we were kids, and all.” Sonia sounds wistful, a small smile on her face. “Remember how I told you I couldn’t? It wasn’t that I wasn’t trying, or that I didn’t want to at all…”

“You’ve… been a werewolf this whole time?”

“I wasn’t gonna… like,  _ say it _ or anything, now was I? I was already in your shadow, since you were so good at what you did.” Sonia rolls her eyes. “And look at you now. You’ve done it again, proven that you’re unbeatable--  _ fixed _ the werewolf problem in Postwick.”

Leon shakes his head. “Sonia,  _ you _ were the one who told me  _ how _ to fix it! I-- I won’t tell anyone that it was  _ you, _ of course, but-- I’m  _ getting _ you a knighthood for this.”

“Leon, you can’t do that--! Especially when I was the problem in the  _ first place-- _ ”

“No, no, Sonia, listen to me. I couldn’t have done this  _ without you. _ Don’t sell yourself short or anything-- if you weren’t here, I wouldn’t have known how to help you.” Despite all his armour, Leon leans forwards and hugs Sonia tightly, like they had hours before. “I’m… I’m glad you’re okay.”

After a moment’s pause, Sonia’s hugging him back, a small smile working its way onto her face. “Yeah… I’m glad, too. Thank you, Leon.”

The two are silent for a minute, just happy that the other is safe, for now. When Leon finally pulls back, he laughs quietly.

“I’m still getting you that knighthood.”


End file.
